Gu Fenghua smiled and said to Ye Yunji after they went back to campus, "Thanks for the gifts. We must treat you to dinner sometime."
"Yunji, you're the best. We absolutely have to buy you dinner." Luo Enen nodded hard.
Ye Yunji smiled. "Sure thing. Thanks."
"You don't have to thank us. In any case, it will be Big Fatty cooking." Luo Enen chuckled.
Big Fatty? They must be talking about Jun Lansheng, the guy who hangs out with them. Big Fatty was certainly an apt nickname.
"You can't call him Big Fatty to his face. Remember to say that he is handsome," reminded Luo Enen worriedly.
"This is very important and the quality of our food is at stake," urged Gu Fenghua as well solemnly.
Ye Yunji nodded and agreed when he saw how serious it was.
***
The entire campus was in furor at the commencement of the freshmen martial arts tournament. The freshmen rubbed their hands excitedly and wanted to perform well while seniors looked forward to the entertainment. Even though they were treating it as entertainment, they were keenly aware of the importance of watching actual battles.
Lu Tonglian was so excited that she even dreamt of trouncing Gu Fenghua during the tournament the closer it got to the date.
Some teachers supervised and served as judges for the prelims. Since the students' abilities were inconsistent, winners emerged quickly. 20 stages were set up for the matches.
Gu Fenghua was number nine so she had to fight in the first round.
Since Luo Enen and Jun Lansheng got to fight later, they all came to cheer for her.
Zhong Wanying came too and looked at Gu Fenghua worriedly. She proceeded to turn to look at the confident Lu Tonglian with hesitance as well while she contemplated whether to speak to Lu Tonglian.
Ye Yunji was here too. Now that he was here, Zhong Wanying stopped hesitating. She walked up to Lu Tonglian and paid her respects before she said audibly, "Your Highness, Fenghua sometimes gets willful and insensible. Please don't take it to heart and show mercy on her later."
Luo Enen was so repulsed that it felt as though she had just eaten poop. Her lips twitched as she looked at Jun Lansheng. Jun Lansheng was in shock as well as he asked in a daze, "What's Zhong Wanying doing? Why did she say that?"
"I told you to read more!" said Luo Enen disappointedly. "Didn't I give you two rare books to read?"
"I just started on it," replied Jun Lansheng honestly. He added weakly when Luo Enen looked at him angrily, "I will burn the midnight oil to finish them tonight."
Gu Fenghua watched Zhong Wanying's performance before she turned to glance at Ye Yunji as he looked at her. Zhong Wanying had performed for nothing. The single spectator whose attention she really wanted failed to notice her.
Lu Tonglian smiled coldly and said, "Zhong Wanying, is it any of your business? Do you have the right to say such things to me? What makes you think you can speak on behalf of anyone?" Lu Tonglian was no fool. Even though it only happened for a split second, Lu Tonglian detected Zhong Wanying looking at Ye Yunji shyly. Hence, she did not bother to be polite to Zhong Wanying.
Zhong Wanying looked startled and indignant when Lu Tonglian reproached her curtly. She bit her lip hard with tears welling in her eyes before she said weakly after some time, "T-that was not what I meant. I know that you are a good fighter, so I hope that you can show mercy and not hurt Fenghua…"
Most of the people around them saw how vulnerable Zhong Wanying appeared and could not help feeling worried, especially the men. Everyone turned to look at Lu Tonglian reprovingly.
"Enough. Stop talking. Stop acting vulnerable. Who are you putting up the pretense for?" replied Lu Tonglian in contempt. "You got one thing right. I am definitely much better than Gu Fenghua, but…"
Lu Tonglian suddenly came close to Zhong Wanying and whispered in her ear, "…but you and I have the same objective. We both want to teach Gu Fenghua a lesson, so stop pretending in front of me. It is disgusting."
Zhong Wanying looked startled and retreated a couple of steps, but did not respond.
Lu Tonglian scoffed before she looked at Gu Fenghua.
"Gu Fenghua, if you kneel to beg me, I might show you mercy," said Lu Tonglian with absolute confidence.
"I won't do the same. Even if you kneel to beg, I won't show any mercy," said Gu Fenghua softly with a smile. Her voice sounded so sweet that it could melt anyone's heart, but the things she said were completely harsh and almost made Lu Tonglian cough blood.
"Stop being a smart mouth. Prove yourself and get up there." Lu Tonglian did her utmost to curb herself from going straight up to Gu Fenghua and ripping her face. The moment Lu Tonglian finished her sentence, she jumped onto the stage.
Gu Fenghua smiled gently before walking onto the stage slowly.
Luo Enen and Jun Langshen waved their fists below the stage. "Fenghua, make it a good and quick win."
Gu Fenghua nodded to Luo Enen and Jun Lansheng.
Lu Tonglian's face puffed up angrily. How could they have the cheek to say this? They might just sprain their tongues from pretending to be confident.
Jun Lansheng retrieved a bag of shelled melon seeds and started to munch on them. Luo Enen brazenly went over to take some.
Jun Lansheng glanced sideways at Luo Enen. He pulled out a bag of melon seeds with shells and passed them to her. "Shell them yourself."
"Okay." Luo Enen took the melon seeds sadly to shell and eat them.
Jun Lansheng suddenly detected a young man looking at him with hostility. Jun Lansheng instinctively covered his melon seeds and glared at the young man as he said, "What are you looking at? It's not like I will give you any."
Zhu Zileng went speechless. Stupid fatso. Who wanted your melon seeds?
"Hmm…. You look mighty familiar." Jun Lansheng frowned as he contemplated.
After Zhu Zileng's initial fury, a faint sense of sadness rose in his heart. Big Fattie had beaten him to a pulp. Also, it was not his first time. However, Big Fattie failed to recognize him.
Jun Lansheng did his utmost to recall who Zhu Zileng was until the referee told them to start. Jun Lansheng finally turned his attention to the fight on the stage.
Lu Tonglian's smile was almost contorted. She promptly pulled out her sword and attacked right away. She was afraid that Gu Fenghua might surrender. If Gu Fenghua did, all her plans would go to waste.
Gu Fenghua smiled gently as she swiftly took a few steps back before she pulled Little White Flower from the side of her ear and threw it on the ground.
Lu Tonglian was not good enough for her to use her sword!